Sewage lagoon in Stratford, P.E.I., well on the way to decommissioning

The town of Stratford, P.E.I., has been dealing with complaints about its sewage lagoonand has been trying to fix it for the last 16 years, says Deputy Mayor Gary Clow.

"We've had ongoing issues here over the last many years," he said, at a Stratford council meeting Wednesday. "We had an odour issue here every spring and that'll be gone now."

Sludge was recently removed from the lagoon, he said.

"Once the pump station is operational, we'll begin to de-water the system for infilling the lagoon," he said.

"We're hoping to do that sooner than later."

Clow said the hope is to have the waste treatment centre decommissioned by the end of January.

Big improvement

Two outbuildings will remain on the site. One building has three pump stations operating inside that will take sewage from Stratford and flush it to the Charlottetown facility.

"It goes to the plant in Stratford first then into the water system to Charlottetown," he said.

Clow said it will mean a bigimprovement for Stratford.

Clow said he has been on council for over a decade and through those years the town thought about building a new waste treatment centre before deciding to send sewage to Charlottetown.

"We're really excited about this," said Clow.

The project is valued around $10.9 million, with$2.7 million coming from the town andthe rest provided by the federal and provincial governments.

Clow said the project will stay within that budget.

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